Regan Young wrote:
however, i have had a look at fabrikar.com and it's pretty damn cool! i might follow this path, although it looks like i might have to throw a lot of time into it so paying someone else might be the best thing to do.
There is a slight learning curve to do much more advanced db work, but you don't have to learn php/sql/et al, just how to manipulate fabrik....once you get your head around it, it's quite easy and literally nothing it can't do date-wise. 
Feel free to fire any questions my way, or ask in the Fabrik forums...